Hay loader



Nov.11, 1930. ,MQKURTH 1,781,332

HAY LOADER Filed Dec. 1, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet l A TTORNEYS Nov. 11, 1930.

M. G. KURTH HAY LOADER Filed Dec. 1, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

BY M AJMf ATTORNEYS Patented Nov. 11, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MATTHEW e. KURTH, or Memson, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR, BY manor AND mnsnn ASSIGNMENTS, ro MASTER MACHINERY AND IMPLEMENT ,WISGONSIN, A CORPORATION or WISCONSIN COMPANY, OF MADISON,

HAY LOADER Application filed December 1, 1927. SerialNo. 236,934.

cluding corn stalks and the like. i

It is the primary object of the invention to provide asimplified hay loader which will reach a maximum effectiveness in picking up hay and other like products from the ground and deliver it to a vehicle with a minlmum number of moving parts.

In referring to the effectiveness which is one of the desired features of a machine embodying my invention, I mean to include the thoroughness with which material is picked up from the ground, freedom from stoppage and-from mechanical troubles, ability to handle a variety of kinds of material, and rapidity of operation. It is my purpose to provide for all of these desirable results by the present invention.

The increasing prevalence of the cornborer and other insect pests has made it necessary to pick up and destroy all corn stalks and other field refuse. As above indicated,

- the present machine is calculated to accom:

plish this result but, for lack of any better generic term, the word hay will be used hereinafter without specific reference to corn stalks or other plants and it will be understood to be used generically.

In; the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side view of an improved hay loader embodying this invention with the wheelnearest the observer removed.

Figure 2 is a rear elevation of the hay loader shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3'is an enlarged detail View in side elevation of the upper end of the loader.

Figure 4 is a view taken on line 4-4 Figure Figure 5 is a detail view showing the means of securing a loop in one of the teeth.

Figure 6 is a detail view showing the means for securing the; end. of one of the teeth.

bly.

Figure 8 is a detail of the rake tooth assembly mounting.

. Figure 7 is a detail of the conveyor asseni- Figure 10 is a detail showing in fragmentary cross section the tooth illustrated in Figure 9.

Like parts are identified by the same reference characters throughout the several views.

The main frameof themachine comprises a symmetrical arrangement of side frame members, one of which is shownat 15. These members converge at 16 to a tongue 17 adapted to be secured in the usual way to the hay rack or other vehicle to be loaded.

Upwardly inclined bars 18 at the rear of the main frame contribute to the support of the conveyor frame and the rake assembly hereinafter to be described. The conveyor (Iii frame may conveniently be made of angle irons whichserve. as a guide for the conveyor and are offset at 20to support the upperconveyor pulley guide; The an le irons 19. are connected substantially at right angles to the rearwardly inclined bars 18. of the main frame and are also braced directly from the main frameat 21. Tie rods 22 e011- nect the braces 21 with bars 18 and also perform the f-unctionof supporting and adjustably guiding the rake tooth assembly as will hereinafter be more fully brought out.

The frame structure thus fardescribed is provided at 25 with bearings for the sleeves 26 connected with wheels 27. The axle shaft 28 which extends through such sleeves serves as a guide for the wheels, but derives no motion therefrom, the wheels being free thereon. Carried by this shaft immediately inside of the side frame members 15 and bearings 25, aredisks 30 which may be considered as comprising the heads of a reel or skeleton drum. These disks, however, require no connection with each other and each serves as a driving pulleyfor one end of the conveyor belt. i

Each of the sleeves 26 is connected respectively toits adjacent wheel 27 and each is provided at the inside of the bearing 25 with a ratchet wheel 31. The complementary face of each of the pulley disks 30 is provided with one or more pawls 32 adapted to interact with the adjacent ratchet 31 to transmit motion from the wheel 27 through sleeve 26, ratchet wheel 31 and pawl 32 to the conveyor pulley head 30. This arrangement merely ley headsBO together to provide gt reel of ziiiy"reqiiiie'd degree of snb'stntiallity, By

I have shown a series of connecting bars 33 which my" of "suggestion in this re ent,

may be inortised into the peripheries he respective heads 30 as indicated in Figii e'l' andwhich may be providedat intervals radially projecting teeth gens shown in Tlresper'iplieries of the reel heads; 30 are; provided with lugs at 340 Which aread'apted to" en age the various slatsiof th' conveyor belt for the propulsionthereof.-

' lie; The conveyor consists "of. two strands of endless ro'p'e orthe like" "'sshown at 361 These strands are connected at inte'rvitls-by wooden:

slats 37 extencli1ig transversely of the ma chine 'aiid' provi'ded at their ends withmetal fittings each of which includes two parts-p38 and 89 bolted together at 40 upon the slats-as shown in Fi ur -7; The'fittings are chair:

neled asindieatedat tl Figure 'F' we gage; clan'i'ping'ly' the wirerope'or flexible" s1 e'lnik 36 0i theconveyor; The s-snnpe otth nell such that it will be virtually iin remain permanently assembled intheir prope'r' rela ti ve' positions'.

The upper pulley 4'5 is jro'vided'with slidebly mounted journals 46' gi' ided in a slot't'? in the offset por'tib'n 20 of the side angles Ill-of the conveyor frame; The position 'ofieajch journal in its respective.-

slot is controlled by. a hand scre'-W es which provides the convenient means for tightenthe conveyor bolt as desired.

The hay is picked up from the ground and de'liverednpon the conveyor by a rake tooth assembly, the arrangement and mounting of \vl'iiCh COnipifiSQS one of the most important features" of thepresent invention. This assembly consists of a l'argenumberof rakete'etlr'rBO carried by a special rake tooth frame consisting of the transverse angle members 51 and 52 and a set of forwardly extending arms 53. The assembly is supported inpalrt from contact of the rake teeth -with theground and nipart'by its pivotal connection with the remainder of the inach n'eg It will be noted that the arms 53 ar'ea r cu ately curved in approximate concenti'icity with wheels; 27. Each arm is provided With a plurality of apertures 54: whereby it ma be adjustably pivoted by a stud 55 to a guide block 56 adjnstible I upon the mass heretofore described; 'A coin ressionsprings! priovi'd'e'd t'vith a fifXl'seat at 58 iipon'such rod try in an desired angular pos' 1 P sible for the f ttings to slip-upon the: wire? rope 36,'thus ensuring that the parts 'irv'i ll f for the conveyor 35 the hay "th an the acts upon the block 56 to urge it forwardly upon the rod which is preferably approxi i'nately horizontal. I

This arrangement provides for the bod ly movement of th-eentire rak e'assemblyjin a longitudinal direction, While at the s'a-ine tinie permitting the pivotal movement of the rake s m y unonstue r5 ineny pes t et o he (l6 block The a pe'r'tn es' s n oe for the 11513 setting of th rake assemmNUlDGIOUS experiments have indicated that mounting of this kind for the rake 3.556111 bly of a hay loader is rextremely important not only as to the horizontal yielding inovein'ent' provided in addition --.to the pivotal n'iovernent', but .fiirther' in connection with 1 the general rloc ation' of the pivot: point for'iulcrnni about which the rake assembly oseil- V latess. It is desirable that-this fulcrum point sbf stud '55) shonld be located Well forward of a verticaluplane including? the axles upon' vh'iich ivh'eels27 revolve.- It Will" be'noted from an" inspection of Fig-"are 1 that the normal position of the parts contemp'lete'd by the present invention'involves a normal location for the pivotal fulcrum of tlieirake assembly at engle-ofapproxini'ately 45Ieiboveth'e main frame" frointhe ili at a'ra'dius' which exceeds somewhat to m r sbfthe Wheels: This genera l flo'calllOn Off .the' -iiul'cruin for the rake" teeth- 1s preferre'd hiis beeni foun-d toipermit ideal yieldingmovenrent of the reketeethin passing' over rough ground and accommodating enc'e'ssivef'quantities of hafy during the open va-tion of the machine: W h erethe fulcrum is located directly abovethea'xle or even at the real-r thereof, the liftof the r'alze teeth in'pa'ssing over obstructions inadeqnete" the teeth are caused to move rearwardly an excessive c listance-before therequired Jift is had In'th'e' present construction; alny obstruction either on the surface of the ground or'in the amount of hay being handled will immediately introduce a moveniei'it' of 'tl'ie rake teeth iii-which the rate o litto'r ele ation of tlie'asse'inbly in proportion to the total dis"-v tance which itmovcs will be relatively high. At the same 511118 a greater percentage of the Weight of the rake assembliv is imposed uponf' would be th case if theful- VQY'Q located nfl'or'c nearly-shove point were located too low in front of the Wheels, excessive proportion of the weigit of, the rake asseinbly wou-lcl be c lri'ed'iilifeetewritten aketeeth from thegrou'nd.

tively high degree of resilience indep ly' of tl-ieyielding movement o f the senibly as a; Whole. It ans'veryethiit-t-he' rake teeth'fshould-"be so sup from eerr ing neethat the transverse If} on heather hanch the flilcruin to form-the teeth in such a, 1 manner that each tooth 111aynave-a" -z* thereby obstruct the hay which, in passing along the teeth, tends to press between the teeth somewhat and would lodge upon a frame member too close to the path of travel of the hay. To accomplish these two desirable characteristics ofthe teeth and their relation to the supporting frame, I prefer to construct the teeth as follows:

Each tooth is preferably made up of a re siliently flexible bar formed to provide a loop at60 which is secured by a U-bolt 61 to the transverse frame member 51. The loop 60 not only increases the resilience of the tooth, but also spaces from the mounting angle iron 51 that portion of the tooth upon which the hay passes. It is found, furthermore, that the loop has no tendency in itself to obstruct the free flow of hay along the under surface of the tooth.

"Adjacentits end, each tooth is bent upwardly asshown at 62 and passes through an aperture in the angle bar 52 whereupon the tooth is bent over at right angles as in dicated at 63 in Figured A channel member 6% is now clamped by means of bolt 65 to theupper face of angle iron 52, thereby anchoring the laterally bent end 63 of the tooth and fixing the angular position thereof. The offset provided at'62 has the effect of spacing the path of the hay materially away from the transverse frame member 52 so that no lodging of hay thereon is possible. It also has the effect in the particular arrangement shown in Figure 1 of holding the rake tooth in concentricity with the reel to such an ex tent as to tend to compact the hay upon the conveyor 35.

In order to keep the hay under a certain degreeof confining pressure during its up ward movement upon conveyor 35, I provide a set of floating packer bars 7 O which are connected at their lower ends to the vertical portions 62 of rake teeth 50 by means of apertured fittings 71, such fittings being freely movable vertically upon the portions of the rake teeth engaged thereby. At their upper ends, bars 7 0 are connected with a transverse member 72 from which they are spaced by the fittings 73. The transverse member 72 is resiliently supported from slides l6 by means of the tie bolts 74 and compression springs 75. The tie bolts are looped at 76 and engage the longitudinally extending guides 77, permitting both downward and longitudinal move ment to the transverse member 73. It is only after such member has moved upwardly to the full extentofloops 76 that the springs become effected. Thus, during the passage of a normal amount of hay, only the weight of the packer bar assembly is imposed thereon, but when the quantity of hay becomes excessive, it is packed under spring pressure. It

will be noted that this is an extremely flexible mounting designed to yield not only upwardly, but also in a direction to accommodate movement of the pressure bars occa sioned by the bodilyoscillation of the rake assembly.

Vihile the ordinary spring rake tooth heretofore uescribed is entirely adequate for many purposes, I prefer to use a special form of tooth in picking up litter. This toothis made by adding to the spring rake tooth 50, a light sheet metal pan shown at 80 in Figures 9 and 10. This pan is provided with a central rib at 81 soformed as to receive the rod or standard tooth 50. The width of the pan is such that it greatly reduces the space between consecutive spring teeth. In order to prevent the hay from working between consecutive pans 80, it is preferred tobend the margins of the pans forwardly at 82' to provide narrow flanges upon which the hay will tend to ride. The arrangement is such that itproduces the effect of a greatly increased number of spring teeth and enables the machine to pick up very small litter with very little loss and without the expense incident to the nmunting of an equivalent number of individual spring teeth. i

The. operation of the machine will be apparent from. the foregoing description, but it may be said briefly that when the device is attached to a vehicle, the discharge or upper end of the conveyor system will overhang the rear of the vehicle in away to be adapted to deliver hay thereupon. The rake teeth will. closely follow the ground due not onlyto their own resilience, but to the fact that a part of the weight of the rake assembly is imposed upon them because of the location of the fulcrum stud 55. Hay picked up by the teeth will be elevated therein both by the pressure of succeeding hay and by the action of the radial teeth 45 carried by the cross members of the reel or drum and projecting between the slots of the conveyor.

The curvature of the teeth will hold the hay closely to the conveyor and will ultiw it is being compacted on the conveyor. Ob-.

viously at this time the extent to which the hay tends to penetrate between the teeth reaches a maximum. a .l i

As the hay passes from the teeth in its upward travel and upon the conveyoryit isheld compacted by the pressure bars 70 which confine it within a gradually narrowing space, but are resiliently yieldablc to accommodate excess quantities of bay. The result of this arrangementis to deliver fully compacted hayifrom the discharge portion of the conveyor. i

It will be noted that there are very few moving parts in the hay loader described above asan embhdiment of this invention.

Itvwill also be obvious to those skilled in-theart that numerous departures?- may be made from the specific disclosure 1n this application without deviating from the spirit of the invention as set forth in the appended and described here1n.- v

claims '11. In a device of the character described, the combination with a .set of wheels, ofa reel mounted therebetween andoperatively connected to be drivc'n therefrom, a belt conthe elevation of material along said rake.

veyor having an end encircling said reel,'and

- a rake complementary to said reel and 0011- veyor and provided with a mounting to which said rake is fulcrumed ahead of a vertical plane through the-Farris of said wheel and above a horizontaliplane therethrough.

In a. device of the character described, the combination with a wheeled frame, of a rakedevice fulcrumed to said frame substantially forwardly of its line 10f contact with the ground, and means co-operating with said rake device to providea restricted space for 3. The combination with a wheeled frame, of a rake dev ce including rake teeth curvn linear about the axis of'thewhe'els of sa1d frame, and a rake :tooth' carrier fulcrumed to said frame ahead ofand above said axis, to-

gether with means co-operating with said teethfto provide a restricted space':-for the elevation ofmaterialthereon. I

I 4-. The combination with awheeled frame,

ofa rake device including rakexteethcurvi' linear about the axis of the Wheels of said i'p rising a reel rotatably mounted co-axially frame, anda rake tooth:carrier fulcrumed to said frame ahead of andab'ove said axis, to-

gether with means co-eperatinglwitli said teeth to provide a restricted space for the elevation of; material thereon, said means comprising at-reel rotatably 'n'ionnted c'oaxially with and hetweenthe wheels of said frame 5L The combination with a wheeled frame, of a rake device including rake teeth curvilinear about theaxis of the wheels of said frame, and-a rake tooth carrier fulcrumed to said frame ahead of and above said axis, together .with means co-operating with {said teeth to provide a restricted space for the eleva't'ion' of material thereon, said means-comwith and betweenthe wheels of said frame connected. with said wheels to rece1ve 1notion therefrom and provided withmeans for engaging thematenali to b elevated.

I ,6. The combination with a frame provided with wheels anda reel mounted between said reels and operatively arranged to receive motion' from a wheel, of an endless conveyor belt mounte'dnpon'said reel, a set'of rake teeth curvilinear to said reel in substantial concentricity'itherewith, and a carrying frame to whichg'said teeth are connected provided with a pivotal connection to said first mentioned;

frame inadvance. of and'above the axis of said wheels, said "pivotal connection'being and rake teeth spaced from said frame members. and connected therewith substantially in the plane of said teeth, whereby said connections oifer no obstructionto hay traversing sa dteeth for delivery upon said conveyor 9. The combination with a conveyor system including a reel and an endless conveyor belt mo"; ,ted thereupon, of a set of rake teeth arcnately curved about said reel, a frame pivotally supported in advance and above the axis ofsaid reel and provided with transverse members for connectmn with sa d teeth,

s, d teeth beingprovlded with portions offin their respective vertical planes for enthe character described,

agement with'said frame at points remote; from the path of hay about said reel.

nged to del-i ver materialfthereto 7 and COIHQIlSlDg transverse frame members 10. in a device of thecharacter described, i

a rake assembly comprising a pair of transversefram'e elements and rake teeth com prising yieldable rods, each provided with a loop connected at its top to one of saidframe; elements and an offset portion connected with '7 another of said frame elements adjacentthedelivery end of the tooth, each such tooth,

providing a substantially smooth and unimped d path for material picked up thereby.

Y 11. In a device of the character described,

the combination with" a main frame provided with supporting wheels-and a reel mounted betweensaid wheels; and provided with an operative connection to be driven from one thereof, of a conveyor frame including upwardly inclined guide members substantially tangential to said reel, a guide pulley supported adjacent the top of said members, a

conv-yor belt mounted upon said pulley and said reel, a ralre assembly pivoted to "said framein advance of and'above the axis of said wheels and provided with rake teeth and a support for said teeth spaced therefrom at theiridelivery ends, and pressure slats associated with said conveyor from a point near the" delivery ends of said teeth to a point adj acent,

said pulley, said slats being floated for movement in accordance with the movement of said rake assembly about its fulcrum.

12. In a device of the character described, the combination with a conveyor system, in-

- cluding a conveyor belt and upper and lower guide pulleys therefor, of a. rake assembly associated with said conveyor system and arranged to pick up material and deliver it to said belt, a main frame provided with wheels for the support of said conveyor system, a pivotal connection between said rake assembly and said frame in advance of the axis of said wheels, and a set of pressure slats con nected with said rake assembly and extending therefrom along said belt, said slats being floatingly mounted for freedom of movement in accordance with movement of said rake assembly.

13. In a device of the character described, the combination with a conveyor system including upper and lower pulleys, an inclined guide, and an endless belt traversing said guide and said pulleys, of a frame for the support of said system provided with wheels concentric with said lower pulley and operatively connected for the transmission of motion thereto, a rake assembly including a sub-frame pivoted to said first mentioned frame above and ahead of the wheels thereof, flexible teeth provided with substantially continuous curvilinear delivery surfaces spaced from said sub-frame and arranged to discharge material upon said belt above said lower pulley, and floating pressure slats connected with said teeth to comprise extensions thereof above said belt.

14:. A rake assembly comprising a subframe having transverse members and a rake tooth formed to provide a loop connected with one of said members and an end projecting through an aperture in another of said members, said end being turned over at right angles upon said last mentioned member, together with a channel bolted to said last mention lever in clamping engagement over said end, whereby said rake tooth provides a substantially continuous hay delivering surface in spaced relation to the transverse members of said frame.

15. In a device of the character described, the combination with a wheeled frame, of a longitudinally extending guide above the axis of the wheels of said frame, a slide reciprocable on-said guide, resilient means for positioning said slide in advance of said axis, and a rake assembly fulcrumed to said slide.

16. In a device of the character described, the combination with a frame provided with .supporting wheels and an elevating reel, of

a rake assembly floatingly connected with said frame for yieldingmovement upwardly and from said reel, the assembly including rake teeth extending about said reel, a conveyor arranged to receive material from said reel and teeth, and pressure slats co-acting with said conveyor and connected to said assembly to partake of the yielding movement of said rake assembly while constituting extensions of said teeth.

MATTHEW G. KURTH. 

